How Sliding Storage Walls Transform Micro Apartments: Key Benefits

All tiny apartments are born with an evil villain inside:

Limited square feet that can squash your happiness.

Unless you defeat that evildoer with space-saving solutions. Like how Mary Helen Rowell’s 90-square-foot micro-apartment does with wall hooks, Graham Hill’s 420-square-foot studio does with fold-down furniture, and Christian Schallert’s 258-square-foot micro-apartment does with built-in storage.

Adding to that roster of superheroes is a college professor who lives in this modern Gramercy Park micro-apartment. Officially named the 5:1 Apartment by architecture firm MKCA, this tiny dwelling dropkicks its constricting 390 square feet in the face.

Its special power:

A motorized, sliding storage wall that glides from one end of the room to the other with the finesse of a professional ballerina, instantly morphing one room into five. Which makes space for living/partying, working/partying, sleeping, dressing, and entertaining/partying in just a few seconds.

When the sliding storage wall is closed, you have a comfortable living room with ample space for dancing. And playing Twister.

Slide the closet doors open, and you just created three spaces that are essential to staying sane inside a micro-apartment:

A home office, a library, and a dry bar.

Spilled something on your shirt? Slide the storage wall out about half way to unveil a dressing room with built-in drawers and a closet.

Slide the storage wall out a few more inches and guess what?

A cozy bedroom rolls up to the scene, carrying a queen-sized murphy bed, a nightstand, and shelves. Plus a TV that rotates 180 degrees to face whichever room you teleport to.

On the outskirts of this magical, morphing land are three more minimally-decorated rooms:

1. A dining room for four where you can look not only at your guests, but also at your curious neighbors through the window.

2. A kitchen and a pantry with generous storage space.

3. A bathroom that leaks nothing but class.

No matter where you are inside this Gramercy Park micro-apartment, you’ll notice that every room is drenched in white and illuminated by bright LED lights, which simulates extra space. Yes it’s illusory, but that shouldn’t phase you. Because with a sliding storage wall and a private bar at your beck and call, any hour can be happy hour.